Roll pull tab



Oct. 7, 195

T. w. TINKHAM 2,612,992

ROLL PULL TAB Filed Feb. 5,

INVENTOR Patented Oct. 7, 1952 Thornton W. Tinkham, La Haska, Pau as signor to Doeskin Products, Inc., New york, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application February 3, 1956,!SM1N6. 142,254

The present invention relates to rolls of web material and more particularly to providing a starting tab for unrolling such rolls.

The present invention is adaptable for use primarily on paper for toilet purposes but it is also adaptable for use on other rolls of web material, such as rolls of wax paper, tissue wrapping paper, and paper for tabulating machines and the like.

It has heretofore been customary either to leave the free end or last sheet of roll of toilet paper free, whereby it sticks to the roll when packed, or to fasten the free end of a roll of web material to the body of the roll by adhesively securing the last sheet to the roll with paste or glue. This method results in causing the ultimate consumer to waste a substantial amount of the roll of material when starting to unwind the roll and also to cause the consumer great inconvenience in starting the unwinding of the roll. In starting to use rolls of this type as heretofore prepared it is necessary to tear the web transversely. This is almost impossible to accomplish without the use of some sharp instrument and if a sharp instrument is used it is difficult to avoid a deep cut into the roll thus wasting a series of layers through which the cut passes. In attempting to tear the last sheet from the roll, for instance, of toilet paper, a quantity of sheets are torn.

It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a pull tab for starting the roll unwinding. This will eliminate the waste of any paper whatsoever and will provide a convenient and quick way to start the roll unwinding. Moreover, the loose tab at the free end of the roll will readily identify the starting point, adding to its convenience in use, and will provide the user with a method of commencing an even unwinding process without fumbling and waste.

In the manufacture of this type of article it is essential that no step of preparation be added that tends i any way to increase the cost of production since the field is a highly competitive one, and one in which an added cost of a fraction of a cent per unit quickly multiplies into a prohibitive amount. It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing an article having all the superior qualities set out above in an extremely inexpensive manner so that the added cost of fabrication and packagin is negligible.

Broadly, the present invention involves embossing the completed roll somewhere near the free end. The embossing will cause the outer layer to adhere to the roll underneath it and will cause the free end of the web to have a tendency 2 Claims. (Cl. 206-58) 2 H to flare away from the roll. The embossing may be applied in any pattern desired, a part ojf the pattern preferably including advertising matter or the trade mark of the merchandise.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be more readily apparent from the following description and drawing of one specific embodiment of the present invention, in which drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a roll of paper embodying the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

As shown in the drawing the invention. is applied to a roll of toilet tissue. The roll is of conventional form having a tubular cardboard core in surrounded by a plurality of layers of toilet tissue II. The web is divided into a large number of segments by the conventional scoring lines [2.

In order to secure the outside free end of the web to the r011 10 a plurality of indentations [3 are scored in the roll I I adjacent to, but removed from, the free edge M of the web. In the instant embodiment these indentations 13 are in the form of a trade-mark Doe'skin surrounded by a pattern similar to that of knurling. Of course any series of indentations may be used to cause the outer sheet to adhere to the roll underneath.

Since the embossing or series of indentations I3 is removed from the free end, a portion of the web I5 is left unsecured to the roll underneath it to act as a pull tab, that may be grasped by p the user to start the roll unwinding.

As can be most clearly seen in Fig. 2 the last indentation l3a causes the web to assume a position at an angle to a tangent to the roll at the point of indentation; thus causing the free end to flare away from the body of the roll and making it extremely easy for a person to grasp the tab l5.

The embossing is done by pressing a die having the desired design formed in raised ridges on it into the finished roll. Since a paper web is extremely flexible, the embossing will penetrate more than the top two layers of the web becoming progressively less pronounced in each succeeding layer. This will not in any way interfere with the free unwindin of succeeding layers, however, since they will readily peel oil of the roll once the unwinding is started.

The method of applying the embossing to the finished roll of web material is extremely simple.

All that is needed to apply an embossing to the roll so that the outer layer will adhere to the layer underneath is to press a die with the design in raised ridges on it into the roll. t is important to note that the embossing does not pierce any of the layers of web material but merely deforms them. Thus none of the paper Web material is destroyed and there is no added Waste of material in the adhering of the free end of the roll to the body of the roll of Web material Iclaim: v f a 1 I 1. The roll of Web material constituted by serially winding a length of said material upon itself and having a pattern of indentations impressed on a portion of the round surface of said roll, said indentations penetrating throughmore than one layer of said material and said pattern being spaced from the end of the outermost layer,

and wherein the indentations of said pattern. nearest the end of said outermost layer bend" said end away from said roll.

2. A roll of paper, such'as toilet tissue and the like, constituted of a plurality of layers serially wound upon themselves and having a pattern of indentations impressed o a portion of the round surface of said roll, said indentations penetrating through the outermost layer and a plurality of layers next beneath, said pattern includ ing letters and being spaced from the end of the outermost layer, and those indentations nearest said end bending the same away from said roll.

T. W. 'I'INKI-IAM.

- REFERENCES CITED 1 i The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Sweden Dec. 12,1935 

